Nutcracker Ballet

I made a slide show of a collection of lovely still shots taken of the Nutcracker Ballet that Mary performed in on December 21 and 22.  I was able to also include a couple of video clips.  One was of my most favorite dance of the angels and the entrance of the snow fairy queen.  I just love the music to this dance!  I also included Mary's dance.  She was one of the little bon bons that came out from under Mrs. Ginger's dress.  She is one of the tallest ones with a blue/purple cape, an orange neck ruffle and she uses a red scarf to twirl with in part of the dance.  I hope you enjoy the jump back to the holidays and are able to capture some of the magic and fun of this beautiful ballet.

 

 

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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Here is the link to the video:  http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=12b566dddce7a16cbb2656a&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url
 

Piano Fun

It was so cute the other night after Mary had her first piano lesson, she sat down and played her songs without me asking her to while I was washing the dishes. So I went in and video taped her. She was making up her own little tunes and just having fun. It was so special to see her enjoy the piano and having fun with it.

 

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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Here is the link to the video: http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=12b784adc1a0de307498878&skin_id=1603&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

 

From the Heart

Heart shaped food is so fun!  Mary and Rich get such a kick out of it, as the days to Valentine's approach I love to make them heart shaped food.  The other morning I made banana sourdough heart shaped pancakes. 

Mary and I were reading in this book tonight. We were on the chapter where the Ingalls family have guests for Christmas dinner and we came across this paragraph...

 

"Mrs. Boast was great fun. She was interested in everything and eager to learn how Ma managed so well. When you haven't milk enough to have sour milk, however do you make such delicious biscuits, Laura? It was fun to show her. Laura measured out the cups of sour dough, put in the soda and salt and flour and rolled out the biscuits on the board. "But how do you make the sour dough?" Mrs. Boast asked. "You start it," said Ma, "by putting some flour and warm water in a jar and letting it stand till it sours." "Then when you use it, always leave a little," said Laura. "And pour in the scraps of biscuit dough, like this, and more warm water. Laura put in the warm water and covered it. She put the clean cloth and the plate on the jar and just set it in a warm place. She set it in its place on the shelf by the stove and it's always ready to use, whenever you want it."

After we read that Mary's eye's lit up and said, "That's what we do!" It was so cool to read a real life story that happened back in the 1800's and see them do what we do.

 

He is loved just a little bit. Ha!

 

 

Mary is having so much fun getting Valentines in the mail.  Her Aunt Linda sent her this one.

 

 

She is having a lot of fun making Valentines this year.  She is such a little love bug.

 

Valentine's Day is Coming

Well with Valentine's Day just around the corner, someone is getting excited.  I made eggs in a nest with heart shaped toast for breakfast and we decorated her school room bulletin board.  Saving old Mylar balloons came in handy.

Mary has been working on some writing projects.  She will write one or two pages and then she draws a picture to go with her writing project.

 

I finally got my newest blog book printed up.  I had started out doing it each year but I let it go for 3 years.  So, I had a huge editing project on my hand.  I started editing last fall and I finished it a couple of weeks ago.  I was pleased how it turned out.  I make it for Mary so she will see what we did when she was little and she can read the stories of our life.

 

 

The cover.  I took this of Mary when she was about 3 1/2.

 

 

Here are a few shots of the pages inside.

 

Feeling the Blues

The other night I was on facebook and I saw this video. I laughed so hard I cried and then what the brown dog did in the video put me into hysterics. I know it was late at night and I was tired which probably helped the hysteria, but it was something I had to share.

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/FTNlVbjNOBk

School Work

We took the month of December off from home school, so now we are hitting the books everyday now and having a lot of fun.  We are doing a pocket book for January that is studying the seasons.  Each pocket has art and writing projects and some science in there too.  We started on winter and now have moved on to spring.  Mary made the snow people below from a shaving cream and glue mixture.  It made a really cool puffy paint that dried really nicely.  We made a drawing of the solar system and what causes the seasons and she made ice cicles with mylar foil on paper and she wrote a little paper on what winter is.  Now we have moved on to spring.  She made some modeling clay flowers, a tree with tissue paper flowers, a spring book and tomorrow we are going to be reading some spring poems and decorating the pages with spring images that match the poem.  Mary loves poetry.  For her reading she has been reading a Bible story every day with a short devotional and then I have been reading the Little House on the Prairie Series to her.  We just finished up On the Banks of Plum Creek and started On the Shores of Silver Lake.  I have been so deeply impressed with these stories.  I have not read them since childhood and it is so wonderful to revisit them now and share them with Mary.  They are so profound to me and a wonderful example of people who lived a simple life and were so loving and godly.  It made me think it would do all of us, including me, to focus less on material things (having stuff), entertainment and social events focused on entertainment.  They were homeschooled most of the time and did not have the luxury of going to church and even then it was only visited by a circuit preacher who came once a month.  The other times they read the Bible on their own and learned their school lessons at home.  They were a very vibrant and loving family that truly cared for each other and their neighbors.  They worked for others and cared for them when they were sick.  They made the best of things even when things were hard, like when her sister, Mary went blind after having Scarlet Fever.  Laura became Mary's eyes and guided her when she needed it and described  things to her.  Mary found happiness and love even in her blindness and was so grateful for Laura helping her and being her eyes.   They had a good outlook on life and were thankful for each other.  They loved their parents so much and respected them and wanted to please them.  Mary loves for me to sit on the bed with her and read several chapters each day.  My sister Linda gave her a song book from the books.  So when we come across the songs in the book I can play them on the piano and Mary can hear the tunes.  So much fun!

 

The Nutcracker Ballet

This is the Mother Ginger Dance that Mary performed in for the Nutcracker Ballet.  She is one of the little Bon Bons that come out from under Mother Ginger's dress.  Mary is the tallest with a navy blue cape and an orange neck ruffle.  The girls did such a great job and I was so happy to get these shots.

 

Back at the Books

We started up school today! It was so fun to get back to reading, writing and arithmetic after taking a break for the Christmas season. I really love studying with Mary. It is so great to see how she jumps in her skill level after coming back from a break. We also threw in some artwork and make her winter bulletin board

 

Happy New Year

Out with the old and in with the new!

 

 

 

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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Here is the link to the slide show: http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=12a25547f1f63568fdf1c87&skin_id=1604&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Merry Christmas

I want to wish you a Merry Christmas from our house to yours. May the Lord bless you this wonderful season to remember His birth and all that He has done for us!!